Public Speaking Nightmare

 

According to surveys, one of the biggest fears in life is having to speak in public. I didn't expect to until I was asked to speak at church. It was scary. I was nervous, and I survived it. I've been asked a number of times over the years, and I've never become fully comfortable. |A certain amount of anxiety built up and released itself in the form of a dream.

I stood in front of the congregation, wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants. Completely inappropriate. I wore socks without shoes. This actually happened to me one winter when I left my shoes at home and thought padding to the podium in my socks was better than clomping up there in my wet snowmobile boots. I recognized many faces in the audience from my theology school days, most notably some of the guys I played basketball with and my professors. No pressure. I wiggled my toes nervously.

My first scriptural reference was from Deuteronomy, and wouldn't you know it, I couldn't find Deuteronomy in my bible to save my life. I flipped nervously through the pages and ended up in Habbakuk. I started to panic. I delivered witty one-liners one after another, trying to keep my audience entertained while I kept flipping through the pages and kept ending up in Habbakuk. My panic grew deeper, and then the pages of my bible turned yellow. Somehow, at that moment, my bible turned into a phone book. I woke up in a cold sweat and then started laughing. Laughed hard enough to accidentally wake up my wife. Thankfully, she thought it was funny too.

I told this story to some of my peers at church, and they all thought it was hysterical. One of them suggested that when my bible turned into the phone book, I was subliminally trying to make a call for help.